Republican Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio is the first politician to plead guilty to charges leveled in the corruption scandal that (hopefully) will bring down the constellation of other corrupt lawmakers connected to lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Bob Woodward said Dick Cheney in a phone call cursed at him over Woodward’s revelations about the White House’s meetings with Henry Kissinger. Cheney then hung up on him, the reporter said.Woodward called it a “metaphor” of how the White House reacts these days to news it doesn’t like.

In his “60 Minutes” interview, Bob Woodward said Henry Kissinger “is almost like a member of the [Bush] family,” and that in his frequent meetings with Bush and Cheney, Kissinger’s dogmatic ‘stay the course’ advice on Iraq amounts to “fighting the Vietnam war again.”

In his new book, “State of Denial,” Bob Woodward reports that Iraqi insurgents attack our troops over 100 times per day—far more than what Bush has disclosed publicly. Also: Key intelligence predicts the situation will deteriorate in 2007 before getting better. (“60 Minutes” will air a Woodward interview this Sunday.)Yes, we know Woodward frequently acts as a White House stenographer, but he also surfaces real game-changing news.

Bob Perry, a Karl Rove-connected backer of the Swift Boat attacks on John Kerry, has pumped $5 million into a new group targeting Democratic candidates. We’re sure he’ll play fair this time. (h/t: Huff Po)

Rep. Robert ?Bob? Ney (R-Ohio) announced he would not seek reelection in November. Ney, who has been under investigation for corruption related to Jack Abramoff, was pressured by the House Republican leadership to step down at the end of his term.